Just Believe
by kbrewster
Summary: Hotch and Emily try to restore Jack's belief in Santa Claus. Much fluffy goodness ahead!


**Okay, I wrote this for a prompt I was given for the song "I Want a Hippopotamus For Christmas" that Cellzo game me, and this is what I came up with. Absolutely nothing but fluff upon fluff. That seems to be all I've been able to write so far… but I actually think I really like how this story turned out! Merry Christmas to everyone, and if you don't celebrate it, I still hope you have an absolutely fantastic weekend and whatever you do celebrate, I hope it's perfect! **

The snow was falling steadily outside. The flakes were huge and were sticking to the ground nicely. Weather forecasts predicted there could be up to a foot of snow on the ground by morning. Just in time for Christmas.

Jack Hotchner sat by the window watching the flakes fall. He should have been more excited than he was, but this Christmas he just wasn't as easily excited as he had been in past years. He was seven this year, and a lot of kids in his class told him that Santa Claus wasn't real. Jack didn't want to believe it, because if that were true, then why did parents make such a big deal about him? He sighed, wishing he just knew for sure one way or the other.

"Jack!" Hotch called. "Emily is on her way, go get washed up for dinner, 'kay?"

"Okay," Jack agreed, sliding off the chair and going to get himself ready for dinner. Despite his dilemma about Santa Claus, he _was _pretty excited about Emily. She was pretty, smart, and a lot of fun to be around. But for Jack, the best part about her, was that she made his Daddy smile.

A few days ago, Hotch and Emily had sat down with Jack and explained to him that they were boyfriend and girlfriend. After about fifteen minutes of serious questioning from Jack, he accepted it and was perfectly happy knowing that Emily would be in both their lives more.

Not two minutes after Jack returned from his bathroom, did Emily come through the door. She was carrying three bags full of presents, and a Tupperware container full of cookies. Though she was struggling, Hotch took a moment to take in her beauty. Snowflakes were stuck in her dark hair. Her makeup was light, if she was even wearing any at all. She had on a bright red scarf that went nicely with her black pantsuit she had obviously worn to work that day. Laughing to himself, he took her things out of her hands, setting the bags on the ground and holding the cookies while she took off her coat, scarf, and gloves.

"Man, it's freezing out there!" she exclaimed as Hotch set the cookie container to the side and wrapped Emily in his arms, kissing her has he did so. He picked the container back up and led Emily into the kitchen, sitting down at one of the chairs by the bar and pulling her into his lap.

"Well, it's almost Christmas, and it's snowing," Hotch joked.

"I know, I know. I just hate being cold! Where's Jack?" she asked glancing around noticing he hadn't come to greet her yet.

"He's in the living room. He's a little sad… some kids in his class told him Santa's not real, but he still wants to believe it," he almost whispered.

"Oh no," Emily said. "That's horrible! Kids can be so mean," Emily said sadly.

"I'm sure once he knows you're here, he'll be fine. Jack!" Hotch called. "Someone's here to see you,"

Seconds later, the sound if little footsteps filled the room.

"Em'ly!" Jack said happily, running into her open arms.

"Hi!" Emily greeted. "How are you?" she asked, ruffling his light hair.

"Good," Jack confirmed.

"Good," she smiled at him.

"Well," Hotch said after a minute or so of quiet. "I think dinner's ready,"

The three of them sat at the table and ate the pasta dish Hotch had cooked for them, and the cookies Emily had brought with her. She had gone ahead and brought her presents for Jack to sit under the tree. Hotch insisted Emily had gone out of her way and she brought him too many gifts. This, of course, only made Jack want to open them right then. Emily persisted and begged Hotch almost as much as Jack had to let him open them. Emily would be coming over the next night, which was Christmas eve and Christmas day anyway, but frankly, Emily was just too excited to wait that long. So Hotch had given in and let Jack open two of the eight packages Emily had for him.

"Not as good as Rossi's…" Emily commented , referring to the food, after the table had been cleared, Jack was in his room, and she was helping him finish the dishes.

"Sorry I'm not _Italian enough _for you," Hotch joked, back.

"That's okay, I'd rather have you anyway," she said as scooped some bubbles up in her hand and wiped them on Hotch's nose, laughing wildly as she did so.

"God you are such a child!" He stuck his tongue out at her.

"'Cause that was mature. And I'm _not _a child, Aaron." she said firmly.

"Are too,"

"Am not!"

Hotch laughed, pulling her close to him to steal a kiss from her.

"Ugh," Emily commented as they broke apart. "You got your stupid dish bubbles in my mouth!"

"I'm sorry, who's stupid dish bubbles?"

"Oh, shut it. Hey, remember how you told me about Jack and his Santa Claus situation?"

"Uh, yeah," Hotch said, putting away the last of the dishes.

"Well, I can kind of… relate to that," she said, sitting herself up on top of the counter where Jack normally sat when he helped cook.

"Oh really?" Hotch asked, sitting next to her, resting a hand on her thigh.

"Yeah. When I was little, you know we moved around a lot so I never had a _real _Christmas. They were normally spent at some event of my mother's. Whoever my nanny was at the time would watch me open presents. But none of them were ever anything I asked for. You know? So I knew at a young age that Santa probably didn't exist. Until I was eight. That year, I spent Christmas with my Grandfather in France. He asked me what I wanted for Christmas from Santa, and I told him that I didn't think there _was _a Santa. So he told me to ask for something really, really ridiculous that nobody else would think to ask for, and that I might be surprised. So I spent a few hours thinking, deciding on the perfect thing to ask for. Finally I went back to my Grandfather and I told him I wanted a giraffe. I knew if I asked for something like that, if I actually got it, then Santa _had _to be real, right? So Christmas Eve night before I went to sleep, I set out milk and cookies for Santa, along with my letter that asked for a giraffe. When I got up the next morning, I ran down the stairs to find my Grandfather already waiting for me. There were so many presents under the tree, I couldn't count them all. But I noticed none of the boxes were big enough for a giraffe, not even a baby one. I was disappointed already but I didn't let anyone know. I opened all the presents, and sure enough, there wasn't a giraffe in sight. But then, my Grandfather found one last present under the tree. It was a good sized box, but still not the size I was looking for. He read the tag to me, and all it read was 'believe.' So, I opened the present, and you know what I got?" she asked, her eyes widening with a childlike excitement.

"Was there _actually _a giraffe inside, Em?" Hotch asked uncertainly. Surely she didn't have a pet giraffe growing up… did she?

She giggled softly. "Not a real one, Aaron! But there was a giant stuffed giraffe with a Santa Claus hat on in that box. In my letter I never specifically stated that I wanted a live giraffe, so I guess Santa had to take some creative license there. And of course as I got older, I realized what my Grandfather had done. But even now, all these years later, that's still my favorite Christmas memory. My Grandfather was… a great man," she finished finally. "And I guess I still revert back to being that curious eight-year-old girl who finally got her Christmas wish every year, 'cause I _adore _Christmastime,"

"Oh, Emily. That's so sweet. Really. Who knew you had such a soft side in you, huh?" He playfully poked her side.

"Just don't tell anyone," she whispered into his ear, then leaned in to passionately kiss him.

"Hey," Hotch said when they broke apart for air. "Do you think… maybe we could try that with Jack? Letting him ask for something ridiculous like that? I know he's getting to the age a lot of kids stop believing in Santa but with everything he's gone through, as long as he _wants _to believe it, I want to let him. I mean… I know that's a really special memory for you, so if you don't want us hoarding in on it then by all means-"

She cut him off by throwing her arms around his neck. "Oh, Aaron," she breathed. "I would be honored to give Jack a memory like that. I've always dreamed of passing that kind of thing onto my children, you know, to stretch their childhood out as far as it could go since I never really had much of one…" she rambled. "Yes," she stated finally. "Yes, yes, yes. Let's go ask him what he wants! Tomorrow _is _Christmas eve after all," she hopped off the counter and reached for Hotch's hand.

They made their way into Jack's bedroom where they found him playing with a super hero set Emily had given him.

"Hey, Jack," Emily said quietly as she pushed open the door to make room to walk through.

"Hi Miss Em'ly!" he said, a smile creeping across his face.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Okay," the little boy agreed, setting down his toys and turning to face Emily.

"Have you written a letter to Santa yet?"

Jack shrugged. "No.. not yet. I know he comes tomorrow night but kids at school say he's not real. Daddy says he is, but I don't know…" Jack said shuffling his feet.

"Your Daddy's right. Santa _is _real and I know, because when I was a little bit older than you, he gave me something that _only _Santa Claus can give you,"

"What?" Jack asked, suddenly very intrigued.

"I asked him for a giraffe, and he gave me one! It even had on a nice little Santa hat too, so I _knew _it was from him,"

"No way!" Jack exclaimed. "A _giraffe_? That's so cool!"

'"I always thought so, too. Why don't you think of something funny to ask Santa for this year? Hmm? You might be really surprised come Christmas morning," she winked.

"I already know what I wanna ask him for!" Jack said.

"Oh?" Emily said. "What might that be?"

"I want a hippopotamus for Christmas, only a hippopotamus will do!" Jack sang as loud as he possibly could, causing a fit if laughter from Hotch and Emily. Emily picked Jack up and kissed him on the cheek.

"Alright," she said after the laughter had calmed down. "You write a letter to Santa Claus and leave it out tomorrow night, and I bet you'll be really surprised." She sat him back down on the ground. Jack quickly jumped up on his bed and began jumping as if his bed had miraculously turned into a trampoline in the past five minutes.

"I'm gonna get a hippo! I'll name him Harold!" He continued jumping.

"Okay Buddy," Hotch said getting Jack down. "You know you're not allowed to jump on the bed. It's time for you to go to bed, anyway."

"Aw man!" Jack said. "Okay," he relented.

"We'll leave you to it," Hotch said as he and Emily left the room and stood in the hallway waiting for Jack to be done.

"Thank you," he said seriously. "He hasn't been that excited about Christmas all month."

"Don't even worry about it," she said leaning into him. "I wanted to. I would have even if you hadn't asked me."

"Well, thank you," he said again. She returned the thanks with a lingering kiss. They only broke apart when they heard Jack's doorknob turn and he stepped out in Captain America pajamas that seemed a size too small.

Emily chuckled, and Hotch said "Aren't those a little to small, Buddy?"

"Kinda, but I want to wear them tonight. Please Daddy!" Jack said, sticking his bottom lip out.

"Okay, okay. But this is probably gonna be the last time,"

"Yay! Thank you Daddy! Can you _and _Em'ly tuck me in tonight?"

"I think we can manage that," Hotch said as he and Emily reemerged into Jack's bedroom. Jack jumped up in the bed, and Hotch covered Jack up with his blankets. He sat down on one side of Jack while Emily sat down on the other side.

"Goodnight," Hotch said, kissing Jack on the forehead. "Sleep good okay? I love you,"

"Night Daddy. I love you too,"

Then, it was Emily's turn to tell him goodnight.

"Night, Jack," She smiled, and kissed him on the forehead as well.

"Love you Em'ly. Night!"

Emily smiled widely. "I love you too, Jack,"

Jack closed his eyes, and Hotch and Emily left the room and went back down to the living room, where they sat on the couch together.

"Thanks again for everything," Hotch said. "Even though now you're gonna make me search high and low for the perfect hippopotamus, but I'll find a way to forgive you,"

"I would do the searching for you, but my Mother wants me to spend the day at her house tomorrow since she's actually in town for Christmas. But I can come here after if you still want me to,"

"Of course I do. You need to stay the night, too so you can see Jack's face on Christmas morning,"

"Are you sure?" she asked. The only other times Emily had stayed over were when Jack was with Jessica or on a sleepover with a friend. They hadn't wanted to send Jack any kind of wrong message.

"Of course I'm sure," he replied, looking into her eyes.

"Okay," she agreed, flashing him a bright smile.

They sat with each other on the couch for awhile longer. Neither of them felt the need to talk. There wasn't anything to say, really. They were just holding each other and enjoying the company. Before long, however, Emily had to go home to prepare for spending the next day with the Ambassador. Reluctantly, they let go of each other and said their goodbyes, and "I love yous."

Emily had just gotten back to her apartment after fourteen straight hours with the Ambassador. She had a horrible headache and all she wanted to do was pack her things and get to Hotch's house as soon as she could. Once she got in the door, though, her phone started to ring.

"Hey," she said, knowing it was Hotch. "I was just getting ready to come over,"

"Emily, I don't know what to do!" he said almost frantically.

"What happened?" she asked worriedly.

"Jack stayed with Jessica today while I went to go find a stuffed hippopotamus. I can't find one. Anywhere. I don't know where else to look and it's Christmas eve! Everything's closed or getting ready to close, and I need to tuck Jack in," he was in a panic now.

"Okay," she replied calmly. "You go get Jack tucked in, okay? Tell him I'll be there in the morning and I'm sorry I didn't get to see him today. I'll take care of this," she explained.

"No, Emily. I've looked everywhere. He's going to be disappointed."

"Just trust me, okay?"

"Okay… okay. You're right. I trust you." he agreed finally.

"I'll be there as soon as I can,"

"Be safe. It's getting kind of bad out there. I love you,"

"I will be. I love you too," she replied, hanging up the phone. Then she finished packing her things, and set off to find the perfect hippopotamus.

It was well after midnight by the time Emily made it back to Hotch's apartment. Thankful she had a key, she let herself in. She was beyond exhausted. Hotch was sleeping on the couch, but as soon as Emily closed the door he opened his eyes.

"Ooh, sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up,"

"No it's okay, this couch isn't very comfortable anyway. It's really late… did you… happen to find a hippo?" he asked cautiously.

"No," she sighed. "I didn't… I'm so sorry,"

Hotch sighed as well. "It's okay. He'll love everything else. I'll write him a letter back from Santa that says he was fresh out of hippos."

Emily leaned in to hug him. "I feel like this is all my fault. I got his hopes up… and then this," she said sadly.

"It's not your fault. It's okay, Em. Let's just go to bed."

"'Kay," she said, as the two made their way up to Hotch's bedroom and got themselves ready for bed.

The next morning, Hotch and Emily woke up much earlier than they wanted to. Jack had raced in just after 5am.

"Daddy! Daddy! Santa came!" He exclaimed happily as he jumped up on the bed.

"Oh," Hotch groaned when Jack jumped right on his stomach. "Good morning, Jack," he said.

"Let's go see what Santa brought me! Please? Oh, hi Em'ly!" he grinned once he noticed Emily's presence in the room.

"Hi," she greeted.

"Okay," Hotch said as he picked Jack up and got out of bed. "Let's go see what Santa brought you," he said trying to act happy. He was terrified of Jack facing the disappointment he knew would come.

Jack raced downstairs, Hotch and Emily a few steps behind him.

"Coffee?" Hotch asked Emily as Jack sat in the floor bouncing around in excitement.

"Sure," she agreed. "But I think you'd better go ahead and let him start opening things. He might explode with excitement," she laughed.

"Okay, Jack, go ahead and start opening them. I can see you from the kitchen."

Jack tore into every present, he loved everything he got but each time he opened a box without a hippopotamus, a stream of disappointment settled in his eyes. By the time Jack was already halfway through, Hotch was back with coffee for himself and Emily.

After each present had been opened, Jack sat back against the couch. Hotch cringed internally because he knew what was going to happen now.

"There's not a hippopotamus anywhere," he said sadly, crossing his arms. "Those kids at school must have been right,"

"Jack, sweetie, wait a minute. Look over there," she said as she sat in the floor next to him and pointed to a box wrapped in green paper tied with a big red bow. "There's one more present. Go get it and bring it over here," she said calmly as Jack did what she said. Hotch looked at Emily confusedly. She smiled at him, then turned her attention back to Jack.

He slid the box over to Emily and sat next to her. She reached over to pull the tag off the present and show it to Jack.

"Look," she said, pointing to the neatly printed word in the tag. "Can you read that?" she asked the little boy.

Jack looked at Emily and then to the tag a few times before reading: "B- be-believe?" he asked.

"Yes!" Emily said excitedly. "It says believe. Do you believe in Christmas magic, Jack?"

Jack thought for a moment, then nodded his head.

"Open the box, then. See what's inside." Jack tore into the green wrapping paper and opened the box. His eyes immediately lit up as he pulled out the stuffed hippopotamus.

"Look, Em'ly! Look, Daddy! It's my hippo! There really _is _a Santa Claus!"

Hotch was dumbfounded. Hadn't Emily told him she couldn't find a stuffed hippo, either?

"I wanna go make a fort in my room for Harold the hippo and me to play in!" he exclaimed, running up the stairs.

Hotch sat back into the couch and turned to face Emily who was now seated beside him.

"Where did you find one?" he asked her.

"What are you talking about?" she smirked. "Santa can make whatever toy you want at his workshop," she stated matter-of-factly.

"I love you," he said, putting his arms around her and pulling her close.

"I love you, too," she said back, meaning every word. Though the Christmas she spent with her Grandfather had been her favorite Christmas memory for years, she had to admit that this Christmas just might have surpassed that memory.


End file.
